Endless Bauhaus

Video installation by Ilka & Andreas Ruby,
part of the exhibition “Modell Bauhaus” held at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, 22.07-04.10.2009

Has the Bauhaus already become a historical entity of the past or does it still have a contemporary presence? Which of its original intentions and ambitions have survived and can be tied in with the present? Which of its ideas seem unrealizable today? Is there anything genuinely owed to the Bauhaus? Has its general claim and aspiration for a unity of the creative forces in the arts and crafts, science and technology become anachronistic today – or do we need such goals more than ever in view of increasingly diversified and specialized societies?

In order to find answers to these questions, Ilka & Andreas Ruby met with personalities of various design fields which have points of contact with the Bauhaus—architects, artists, curators, a communication designer, an automobile designer, an art historian, and an entrepreneur. The responses of the conversation partners are thematically correlated and mounted in a virtual conversation.

An interview collage with contributions by Pier Vittorio Aureli, Architect; DOGMA, Rotterdam; Chris Bangle, Automobile Designer, Chris Bangle Associates, Turin; Ole Bouman, Director, Nederlands Architectuurinstitut (NAi), Rotterdam; Olafur Eliasson, Artist, UdK Berlin, Institut für räumliche Experimente; Christian Gärtner, Board of Directors of Stylepark AG, Frankfurt am Main; Bjarke Ingels, Architect, BIG, Copenhagen; Olaf Nicolai, Artist, Berlin; Michael Rock, Designer, 2×4, New York; Barbara Steiner, Director, Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig; Jean-Philippe Vassall, Architect, Lacaton & Vassall, Paris; Karin Wilhelm, Architecture Historian, University of Braunschweig.

Concept, Screenplay, Interviews: Ilka & Andreas Ruby, textbild, Berlin
Camera and Editing: Breitbild:brüder, Berlin
Title Design: Leonard Streich, Berlin
English Transcription and Subtitle Translation: Uta Hoffmann, New York
German Transcription: Tim Aßmann, Lahnau
Spatial Installation: chezweitz & roseapple, Berlin
Exhibition Architecture: kubix, Berlin
Commissioned by: Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin, Klassik Stiftung Weimar and Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau
Initial idea and consulting: Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau (Regina Bittner, Philipp Oswalt, Walter Prigge)
Production coordination: Nicole Minten-Jung
The spatial installation was realized with the generous support of Eternit AG.

→ Visit Modell Bauhaus
→ Watch Endless Bauhaus